Cary, N.C. (September 2, 2018) — The Tampa Bay Rowdies are coming home winners after a Sebastian Guenzatti hat trick helped them to a 3-0 win over North Carolina FC in the Tar Heel State on Saturday night.
Here’s Three Things from the match…
1. Sebastian’s sombrero
Rowdies forward Sebastian Guenzatti became only the second player in modern Tampa Bay Rowdies history to score a hat trick on Saturday night, scoring in the 23rd, 43rd and 56th minutes to boost the Rowdies to an important road win.
On his first goal, Guenzatti chipped North Carolina goalkeeper Alex Tambakis from close range. On his second and third goals, the hard work was in getting to the right spot for relatively easy finishes.
“It’s my first hat trick as a pro,” Guenzatti said. “It means a lot to me. As soon as the game finished, I went after the ball. No one was going to get that one apart from me. I’m going to keep that one.”
It’s been a trying season for Guenzatti, who hadn’t scored in 2018 prior to Saturday night. But, at last, he reaped the rewards of his perseverance.
Guenzatti played in 12 straight matches to start the season, but a lack of production had seen his minutes on the decline. As recently as August 11, Guenzatti was left out of the Rowdies’ matchday 18-man squad despite being healthy.
The Uruguayan forward never quit trying though. He kept his work rate up and performed well enough in training to get back into the squad on August 22 against Pittsburgh. He started last week’s match against Cincinnati — his first start since July 7 — and retained his place this week.
Let’s hope for more of that as the Rowdies make their playoff push.
2. Squeaky clean
Congratulations are in order for Rowdies goalkeeper Daniel Vega, who posted his first clean sheet for Tampa Bay on Saturday night. Vega made six saves on the night in the Rowdies’ sixth shutout of the year.
The Rowdies did it without center back Papé Diakité while he served a one-game suspension following his red card against Cincinnati a week earlier. In his place, left back Zac Portillos slid in as the left center back in a back three with Tarek Morad and Hunter Gorskie. Leo Fernandes played as the left wing back with Portillos forced inside.
It wasn’t a perfect performance by the Rowdies defensively, but a clean sheet is a clean sheet.
Special attention must go to Tarek Morad for this perfect recovery to deny Daniel Rios on a breakaway. Morad got into a good position and won the ball cleanly for the possession that would lead to the Rowdies’ goal less than 20 seconds later. Had that play gone differently, who knows how the rest of the match would have developed?
3. Streak busting
Tampa Bay said goodbye to a few not-so-nice streaks Saturday night.
Before beating North Carolina FC, the Rowdies hadn’t won since July 21, a span of five-consecutive matches that saw the Rowdies go winless in the month of August.
It was the Rowdies’ first road win since May.
The Rowdies hadn’t scored multiple goals in a game since July 28.
But that’s all in the past now as the Rowdies look like they’re moving in the right direction and ready for a serious push toward the postseason.
